Dar al-Sulh
Population: 25,000 (100% Human) Government: Autocracy Religions: The White Flame Imports: Fruits, Livestock, Vegetables, Water Exports: Artwork, Clay, Camels, Coffee, Glass, Salt, Slaves Life and Society Life in Dar al-Sulh differs a great deal from life everywhere else in the Empire of the Sands. With the exception of isolated stone buildings scattered across oases and other sites across the desert, Dar al-Suhl is the only place with permanent buildings, as opposed to the tents that the nomads across the desert utilize. The majority of the city’s buildings are bare and weather beaten, made of granite and sandstone, with most being hundreds and hundreds of years old. Large walls of granite and sandstone also form a protective wall around the settlement. Paint is rarely used for decoration, but colored flags and rugs are common adornments outside of buildings. Most are relatively small, standing only two or three stories. No structure in the city stands taller than five stories. The Flame of the World and the Spring of Waqt are located in roughly the center of the city, because the structures that would eventually grow into a city were built around these sites. Paved cobblestone streets and unpaved, packed sand roads criss-cross the city with no particular order to them, betraying the fluid and haphazard nature that the city evolved from. Some streets are wide enough to accompany buggy traffic in both directions, while others are so narrow that they barely leave enough room for a grown Human male to navigate them. Dar al-Sulh suffers from no shortage of street traffic, either. Outside of her famed bazaars, there is virtually almost always, on every street corner, some sort of vender peddling his or her goods, street cooks filling the air with the delicious aromas of cooked foods, artists plying their trade, or beggars asking for alms. A great deal goes on beneath the city as well. Asides for the Underground Bazaar, various private homes scattered across the city have cellars, bunkers, and other subterranean rooms for varying purposes. The city also has an extensive sewage and irrigation system, bringing water from the source of the Spring of Waqt to manually constructed wells all over the city, and to wash away garbage and refuse that is dropped into specific other wells. The residents of the city, though primarily ethnic al-Bed, are a great deal less insular than their nomadic brethren. This is because of their semi-regular interaction with traders from elsewhere, who come to the city to deliver their wares, and to ship wares from the city to the rest of the continent. Some residents limit their interactions with outsiders, and their culture, while other residents seek to absorb as much as possible from outsiders. Generally speaking, attitudes towards outsiders change, depending on the conservatism of those ruling the city. Major Organizations ''al-Ikhwaan Ghoul'' Major Geographic Features Dar al-Sulh was settled hundreds of years ago, and has gone through numerous periods of growing in regional influence and numerous periods of waning in regional influence. The one constant, however, is that it has always been a holy sight, and a place of pilgrimage. As a result, the city is one of the few places in the desert with permanent structures, made of stone, mud and/or wood. Certain areas have paved or semi-paved streets, though most of the criss-crossing lanes that haphazardly segment the city are dirt and sand roads. The Temple of the Flame of the World and the Great Market sit roughly in the center of the city. The reason for this is because the Spring of Waqt originates from this area. The further one is from this area, the further they are from the well, the primary source of water in the settlement. As a result, the center of the city is its most densely packed region, and the city’s population density grows smaller as one gets further from the temple and market. The city itself is surrounded by tall stone walls, built hundreds of years ago, and maintained throughout the centuries. Guard posts and gates segment the wall, allowing pilgrims and visitors to come and go as they please. Important Sites Temple of the Flame of the World Pyramid of Grand Pharaoh The Great Market The Caravanserai Regional History When the great Half-Demon Efreeti Agnazzar of the Thousand-Eyes had his physical form banished from the Material Plane, his spirit remained behind, and corrupted the region he once controlled, turning lush, green countryside into barren, inhospitable desert. In such a terrain, access to water became important, the difference between life and death. While many of the other nomadic al-Bed tribes who began wandering the desert moved on from site to site, in the non-stop search for water, the as-Sa’uufi did not. Chancing upon the site shortly after the destruction of Agnazzar, in UC -2,498, the as-Sa’uufi discovered the Spring of Waqt, a plentiful source of water that, despite providing water for their men, women, children, and camels for nearly six months, never ran dry. Taking this as a sign of favor by the White Flame, the as-Sa’uufi make permanent residence on the site, settling the city. Being particularly grateful to the White Flame, the as-Sa’uufi went on to become particularly religious, and the small settlement became home to numerous shrines dedicated to the enigmatic deity, chief among them being the Flame of the World. As the decades passed, the site of Dar al-Sulh waxed and waned in regional influence, but was steadily regarded by all al-Bed as a holy sight. Eventually, as decreed by the Grand Pharaoh of the Flame of the World, the primary caretaker of the fire and the temple that housed it, Dar al-Sulh was to be a holy sight, neutral in all of the inter-tribal conflicts going on across the desert, and a place for all tribes to be welcome. In UC –1,939, Tariq ibn Ayad al-Jawari, the charismatic leader of the al-Jawari tribe, staged a coup and sized control of Dar al-Sulh, despite the unofficial recognition of the site’s neutrality in all conflicts. Through various political machinations laid down in the years previous, the powerful as-Sa’uufi tribe, the de facto leaders of the city, supported Tariq ibn Ayad al-Jawari, and went as far as to give his coup legitimacy allowing him to name himself Grand Pharaoh, the ceremonial caretaker of the Flame of the World, normally reserved only for a member of the as-Sa’uufi tribe. It was after he gained control of the small city that he declared the formation of the Empire of the Sands. It’s capital, of course, was Dar al-Sulh, giving the city further prominence and importance, not only for the al-Bed, but now, for the foreign powers that the Empire of the Sands would deal with. Dar al-Sulh’s existence of capital of the Empire of the Sands would not last forever, however. In UC –1,892, Grand Pharaoh Hamid ibn Seti al-Aman decided to abandon the imperial aspirations of his successors, and stop the war of expansion the empire was involved in. In the process, he made numerous enemies, and shortly before the Grand Pharaoh could return to Dar al-Sulh, these politically powerful malcontents murdered him. A Council of Tribes, composed of a representative from all of the major tribes of the desert was formed, and they nearly unanimously decided to dissolve the empire. Though the Empire of the Sands disappeared, the Council of Tribes remained, and governed the city, much to the consternation of the as-Sa’uufi. With the dissolution of the Empire of the Sands, Dar al-Sulh’s prominence waned once more, as it was no longer relevant in the world of international politics, since the al-Bed returned to their mostly isolationist policies. The small city, once more, remained simply a pilgrimage site, a place of peace between the various tribes of the desert. In UC –640, a priest of the Temple of the Flame of the World, wrote the al-Kitaab al-Kokoma Jayed, ‘The Book of the Good Government’, where he argued that only priests of the White Flame are qualified to govern, because they represent and can relay the wishes of the White Flame. Though it was somewhat well received by his fellow priests, the Council of Tribes felt threatened, and had Ali an-Naml banished. From then on, a sort of cold war emerged between politically oriented priests, and the Council of Tribes. Nearly 1,400 years later, in UC 1,072, Sa’ad al-Asiri, a priest of the White Flame, established the ‘al-Ikhwaan Ghoul’, the ‘Ghost Brothers’, a secret society dedicated to bringing about a theocratic rule of Dar al-Sulh. After years of planning and plotting, the al-Ikhwaan Ghoul made it’s move. In UC 1,147, the brothers slaughtered unsympathetic priests of the White Flame, and members of the Council of Tribes. They appointed Sapentu al-Qader leader of the Council of Tribes, and expected him, a fellow brother whom they groomed for political leadership, to abolish the institution in favor of a theocracy. al-Qader had his own political motivations, and betrayed the al-Ikhwaan Ghoul, declaring himself Grand Pharaoh Sapentu al-Qader al-Aman, and reestablishing the Empire of the Sands, with Dar al-Sulh as it’s capital once more. From Dar al-Sulh, Grand Pharaoh Sapentu al-Qader al-Aman controls the empire, composed primarily of the eastern and southern al-Bed tribes. He and his forces are slowly making inroads into subjugating the eastern tribes, who are generally the most conservative and oppose his secular rule. Dar al-Sulh’s influence is waxing, as it is the capital of an international empire once more.